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Interview with Simina Filat |
Home > Designer Interviews > Simina Filat |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Simina Filat (SF) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Simina Filat by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
SF: Very early I started to create different objects, but I realized that I want to follow the path of design, only in college, when I understand professionally what this field means.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
SF: SiminaFilatDesign is a complex brand design service that started with small leather products and has now created social research and design assimilation programs for children and general consumers.
FS: What is "design" for you?
SF: Design for me is a strategic problem-solving process, leads innovation to a better quality of life.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
SF: My specialty is fashion design, but I like to experience crossings in other areas of design.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
SF: I like the mix of different types of design the most. Switching from a fashion product to a furniture product, for example.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
SF: I've created a collection of leather bags.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
SF: Recyclable materials are the materials that attract me most to creativity, 3D printing, and biomaterials.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
SF: I feel very creative at night when it's very quiet.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
SF: Functionality.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
SF: I am very happy and curious when I get an interesting idea I want to experience.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
SF: I feel fulfilled and proud that I managed to create something interesting.
FS: What makes a design successful?
SF: A design product is successful when it is required on the market to solve some problems in society, in daily life, when it becomes viral.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
SF: I consider that the design is judged according to the general criteria promoted by the competition.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
SF: The designer's responsibility is to create products that can solve certain societal problems or improve everyday life. At this moment we have the ultimate responsibility to create solutions to stop pollution through excessive production.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
SF: It is a very large subject, but I want to mention that we live in an era of technology, we are invaded by technology and we are not yet aware whether it is good or not. That's why I think creating solutions to protect our body and planet is absolutely necessary.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
SF: My last exhibition was at the Galateca Gallery in Bucharest, and the next personal exhibition is scheduled in May 2019 at the GalleryGalateca Bucuresti Romania.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
SF: Absolutely everything that surrounds me inspires me in some ways, discussions with my clients about their lifestyle and daily needs inspire me to create products that improve their lives.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
SF: I really like to experience and talk a lot with the customer, the consumer or the beneficiary. I like design to be a negotiation, a dialogue between the parties.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
SF: I live in Eastern Europe, in Romania. I explored various topics of Romanian history, but I try to explore and learn from different cultural areas. I can not say that it influences the area I live in because we are connected online world wide non stop.
FS: How do you work with companies?
SF: I work in collaboration with different companies on different projects.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
SF: Every company, depending on what it needs, hires a designer who has a portfolio, or is interested in the field or theme required by the company. I do not think there's a good or bad designer, just right for that job or not.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
SF: First of all, I'm thinking about some small issues that have passed me, and from there I start researching, documenting myself from the area that already exists, then thinking about how to bring something new. After the process of sketches of ideas and the developed pattern, I get to produce the product in my own workshop, the sample is then modified until it reaches the final shape.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
SF: I like kitchen objects such as the various mugs, cups, plates, ceramic bowls. I really like pillows and blankets of fluffy and sensory materials.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
SF: I wake up around 8am, walk with the puppy in the park, then arrange to go to the studio. After a day of work in the workshop with the production and the clients, in the evening if there are cultural events or exhibitions in Bucharest I choose to relax there. Then I get home and sit at the office to solve some things that I have not managed to solve during the day. I get to work late in the night when I get a creative idea and start to deepen it a little.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
SF: My advice is to understand and document very well what they want to do with their creation after college. There I think it is a confusion of young designers, they can not understand that we are not artists and so, but we are professionals who need to bring quality and added value to everyday or future life.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
SF: For me it is a necessity and a pride that I can bring in a so loaded market, high end products that are worthwhile in front of my consumers. I do not see the negative thing unless you fail to put yourself on the market with your products.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
SF: My golden rule is that my final product is an improvement and a novelty on the market.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
SF: I consider the most important skill for a designer is the empathy with people, understanding problems, anticipating future living problems, and finding viable solutions for the future.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
SF: First of all I make a mindmap on ideas, infographs, sketches of ideas, documentation on all online trend websites, and news in the field interested, then I try to gather a team of professional friends with whom I can do a brainstorming to improve initial idea.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
SF: I'm asleep as little as night, because I'm very excited when I get a new idea and I'm going to search online very much.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
SF: The documenting and sketch part normally takes about a month, then the pattern and sample development takes another two weeks.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
SF: "What do you wear is done by you?" This is the most common question when someone asks me what domain i come from, I answer fashion design, then I'm analyzed from head to toe by the interlocutor, the end culminating in this question.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
SF: The most important and beautiful jobs I have had were those in which I could experiment in related fields, which gave me a design challenge.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
SF: My customers in time became friends of the brand and supporters in all the cultural approaches of this brand, they consider themselves part of a community.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
SF: The concept part of the idea I like the most to develop it. But great joy is when I see the finished product.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
SF: My plans for the future are to go out as much outside my country as I can, to promote my work and my products in the international environment.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
SF: I generally work alone because I'm a start-up and I can not afford to work with other designers, but I have a lot of professional friends in different areas with whom I always advise. But in the workshop I work with two other people, who produce me different objects.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
SF: At the moment I focus on two big projects, one is the winning Ruumy project in this competition, and the other is the SiminaFilatDesign brand, which I am struggling to make as much as possible.
FS: How can people contact you?
SF: You can contact me at www.siminafilat.ro, or by email: siminadesign@gmail.com, Instagram SiminaFilatDesign; RuumybySiminaFilat; Facebook: SiminaFilatDesign; Ruumy. For more information visit siminafilat.ro
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
SF: No, thank you.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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